(1) Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a walk-behind type work vehicle provided with two running wheels on an axle, a power-take-off shaft for driving an implement or attachment for instance as a rotary mower or the like, as well as an engine for driving the axle and the shaft; thus of the so-called mono-axle two-wheel type.
(2) Description of the Prior Art
Transmission system adopted in the conventional work vehicles of the above-mentioned type is such that the engine has its output shaft extending in an upright posture, from which the power is transmitted via reduction gears to a transmission shaft extending also in an upright posture, which in adapted to drive the axle via a worm gear, while the power-take-off shaft is disposed again to extend in an upright posture and is adapted to be driven by the said upright transmission shaft via pulley-belting means. A specific example of such work vehicles is seen in JP-Y1 No. SHO. 49 (=1974)-44583.
In the case that the vehicle is adapted to be equipped with such an attachment for instance as a rotary mower as driven by the power-take-off shaft, the said conventional construction results in the vehicle wherein the engine, the wheels and the rotary mower are disposed to span rather a lengthy range in the fore-and-aft direction of the vehicle, thus making it impossible to obtain a compact vehicle.
Another drawback of such construction is further seen in so driving the rotary mower, which should preferably be operated in high rotation, via the upright power-take-off shaft which in turn is driven by the said upright transmission shaft, in view that this latter shaft is rotated through heavy speed reduction for the ultimate proper driving of the running wheels and is thus rather too slow to sufficiently drive the rotary mower to attain the proper cutting performance.